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The Fabled Pour
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Country

Switzerland

I have one sourced drink connected to Switzerland. The label on each card says how: where it began, what the country is known for, what people drink there, or where the origin is disputed.

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Switzerland on the world map. Boundaries are generalized Natural Earth data.

Drinks of Switzerland

Signature drinks and regional ones, with the evidence behind each. A drink marked non-alcoholic has no alcohol in the traditional serve.

  • Illustration of Kafi Luz: hot thin see-through pale brown coffee, light enough to see through the glass, in a clear straight-sided small tumbler-style glass.

    Kafi Luz

    Canton of Lucerne

    IconicRegional drink

    Thin hot coffee with local fruit schnapps and sugar, served in a glass. The coffee is brewed so weak that a newspaper can be read through it. In the Lucerne area the schnapps is Trasch, and elsewhere in Switzerland the same drink is called Kaffee fertig.

    Coffee reached Switzerland in the 17th century as a luxury of city coffee houses, and country people in the Entlebuch brewed it thin to save beans and added schnapps. Two 18th-century clergy sources are cited as criticizing the habit. Lucerne tourism calls Kafi Luz a regional cultural asset, supported by the association Klub LUZ.

    Made with: weak black coffee, Träsch (apple and pear schnapps), sugar cubes.

    Confidence: mediumEvidence: luzern.com (opens in a new tab), beinspired.au (opens in a new tab), helvetickitchen.com (opens in a new tab)

Map data: Natural Earth, public domain.